Woman arrested in scuffle over soccer ball at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, accused of swinging at 13-year-old boy in wheelchair

Mikka Shardai Cline, 23, of Waco (right) was arrested last night on a charge of injury to a child.

Dallas police say she was in a scuffle over a soccer ball at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. It involved a wheelchair-bound 13-year-old boy, who had a pre-surgical medical halo screwed into his skull.
The boy’s uncle told police he had bought him a soccer ball, and he tried to retrieve it about 6 p.m. from a bush on the hospital grounds at 2200 Welborn Street.

Cline and her sister were also trying to get the ball, according to a police report. The sister told police she had gotten it from the hospital’s playground area.

Police say after the boy’s uncle handed him the ball, Cline’s sister tried to get it from his lap, but was blocked by the boy’s uncle.

Police say Cline then tried to grab the ball, swinging her fist twice toward the boy in the wheelchair. It was not clear, according to a police report, whether Cline was swinging at the boy or trying to knock the ball from his lap.

Her first swing missed, police say. But her second swing struck the boy’s halo, causing him pain, the police report says.

Police accuse Cline of recklessly disregarding the boy’s safety as she swung her fist near him. She is being held in the county jail on $1,500 bail.

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